Matching the pace with political parties that have stepped up their election campaign, the district administration, local NGOs and educational institutions have embarked on the task of educating the voters on the need to cast their votes and strengthen the democratic process.
The Krishna district administration, led by Collector Md. Imtiaz, has taken up a series of activities to spread awareness on the need for every individual to cast their vote. Besides installing a giant replica of an Electronic Voting Machine at the bustling Benz Circle as part of the Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) programme, to familiarise the common man with the sight and functioning of the machine, unique events like a ‘kavi sammelan’ on the theme of voter awareness are being hosted.
The event saw poets from across the country transcending language boundaries through songs and poems, all of which urged the public to exercise their franchise without fail.
The Collector released a compendium of poems in Hindi, English, Telugu, Punjabi, Urdu and other languages on the occasion.
Badminton ace P.V. Sindhu flagged off an awareness rally where children, youth and elders walked with placards that had slogans like ‘Our Vote, Our Future’.
Citizens’ initiative
In another initiative, people from various walks of life formed a common platform to kick-start ‘AP First’, a campaign with the slogan ‘My Vote My Voice’, aimed at reaching all parts of the State and educating people on the need to vote in a responsible way. “We want this election to be free of money and muscle power or any other influence. People should feel free to exercise their vote as only then we can have a democratic set-up,” said Tarun Kakani, a member of the Joint Action Committee formed to propagate the concept. Members of Prayoj, a local NGO working for environmental and other causes, is gearing up to kick off an extensive voter awareness campaign at all busy centres in the city and schools and colleges.
“From this Wednesday, our volunteers will go round government and private offices, schools and colleges and slum habitations to educate people on casting their vote. We also propose to organise flash mobs at the busy centres on the theme,” said Mani Polavarapu, president of the organisation.
Students of the V.R. Siddhartha Engineering College launched a signature campaign in their attempt to spread the word among voters.
